Category Archives: Contemporary

BLURB: Maplewood, Vermont is a picturesque town filled with unique shops, unique homes, and a quaint familiarity all centered around a lake with an unusual history.

Legends, old as well as Urban, float around like the mist that hovers above the lake at break of dawn.

But they’re just stories, right?

Hayden Moore’s life was destroyed when his husband, Malcolm, was murdered. Giving up his job as an assistant district attorney in Boston, Hayden moved to the little burg of Maplewood to recover.

A new life.

A fresh start.

However, something underneath the water is stirring. Something rotten. A deadly secret wakes underneath the black waters of Lake Veronica so disturbing it haunts the nightmares of the local residents.

It’s coming closer…

REVIEW: Freddy Feeley has excellent stories to tell. And he tells them with perfection. This book is a full course meal. With almost 400 pages of an excellent storyline, character development and superb editing; this book is really something.

With the hopes that a change in scenery would help him in his grieving process after his husband’s murder, Hayden settles within a beautiful small town in Vermont. On the surface, it’s picturesque, Norman Rockwell painting perfect but under the beautiful veneer lies a dark and disturbing secret.

Hayden purchases a home and hires the town contractor and former soldier Tommy Law to renovate it. Although Tommy’s a loner, he finds himself surprisingly drawn to Hayden. Hayden’s pain and grief positively leaps off the pages at you. You feel every single bit of it and Tommy’s loneliness. It’s a damn good author whose able write a story and stir an emotional response within the readers.

What’s also interesting about this story is that the author didn’t just make the MC’s the main focus of the book. His peripheral characters also had their own vibrant personalities that were also made a part of the story. Their characters were extremely well written. He did a fantastic job of allowing those characters to shine while simultaneously maintaining focus on the MCs and the storyline.

This author is one of those authors that everyone tends to ‘sleep’ on. Meaning, he’s not part of the ‘in’ crown and as such, his work is often overlooked which is crazy. He has a writing style that is complex, cerebral and his writing style is crisp. The way he weaves a story is absolutely amazing.

You had so many wonderful ingredients to this book: grief, pain, love and loss, mystery, suspense, with a big dash of horror thrown in.

I truly enjoyed this book and definitely recommend this book and this author. Don’t sleep on this author, y’all. He churns out the most amazing stories.

If I had to put a relationship status on my feelings about this work, it would be, “It’s complicated.”

That’s not true. I love it. What’s complicated is trying to get the right eyes on it, a needle that I either expertly threaded in fandom, or it wasn’t something that needed to be explained. The story is silly, deeply so, but it probably makes a lot more sense if you know things about me like that one of my first favorite books as a child was Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins. Add in some Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams and you start to get a rough picture of where I’m coming from.

Like, silly, but also make it sexy. And throw in some jadedness about capitalism, a slightly Eoin Colfer sensibility about puns and popular mythology, and some zombies, well…it is what it is. Is it an enemies-to-lovers romance? Sure. There’s a lot going on, but I’m not sure if it’ll really push your buttons unless you have a very deep commitment to the absurd.

The idea was that this would be a series; in fact I’d started a sequel when Loose Id originally released this story. Everything I’d thought was pretty fun about it, as it turned out, was not fun at all. I shelved it. Honestly, I’m still not sure what people thought it was going to be when the first chapter was called, “Panic at the Dildo Factory.”

But I guess this all comes down to why. Why would I do this to you or to me? Well, because I love crack fic. I love silly. I love dad jokes, ones that will make you roll your eyes and ones that kind of boomerang and get you later. Writing this made me feel like a wicked, crazy genius, cackling the whole way.

People who like it really like it. Those who don’t… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Sometimes I bottle things up to the point where it all comes out in a burst of mania, and this was one of those times.

About the book:

A percentage of the earth’s population has transformed into surprisingly functional zombies who returned to work the next morning as if they weren’t undead monstrosities. Justice Kinkead, officer in an elite zombie fighting force, gets called out when good zombies go bad, putting down the brain cravers and safeguarding the new economy. After several of his partners succumb to unfortunate deaths, Justice figures he’ll go it alone…until he’s assigned a mysterious and sexy new partner, Merlin Pride, who seems to know more about the zombies’ origins than he’s letting on.

Merlin also seems to sense that Justice needs a good fucking, but it’s complicated: Justice still lives with his undead ex-boyfriend. Can Justice make peace with his past? And if he does, should he take a chance on a man who may have something to do with destroying civilization as they knew it?

As an Olympic figure skater, Jeff was a celebrity. He had no problem finding men to date, but finding men that wanted him for himself and not his fame? Not so much.

An Alpha too far from the throne to matter.

Prince Henrik was used to living in the public eye, but as the head of the Swedish delegation to the Olympic Games, he was in the spotlight more than ever. So when he had a chance to sneak into the Olympic Village and attend one of their infamous parties, he took it.

It was just a one-night stand.

Sassy Jeff was more than a match for the hot, tall blond on the dance floor …and in bed. But there was no chance of them working out. They were too different, and the Swede had a secret.

They went their separate ways, but…

Jeff couldn’t stop thinking about the hot Swede. He never did tell Jeff what sport he was in or why he was at the Games.

Prince Henrik threw himself into government work, trying to drown the memories of that amazing figure skater that wouldn’t text him back.

And when Jeff arrived at his castle, things got complicated.

Can Prince Henrik tame the skittish figure skater Jeff and prove that their relationship could work, especially with a baby on the way?

THE BLOND GOD was finally standing in front of me. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him, even though I had to because I was going to turn down the other men surrounding me. I was flattered, don’t get me wrong. I’m always flattered when a man expresses his interest in me. But there was no competition between the blond god and anyone else in the room. He was gorgeous. Tall, blond, beautiful eyebrows, square jaw and a piercing gaze. I was a goner.

I hadn’t matched with him on Tinder or Grindr, which surprised me. Every athlete, absolutely everyone here in the Olympic Village, had opened up Tinder the second they landed at the beginning of the Games. And I’m pretty damn sure I would’ve matched with this guy because he was everything I was looking for. I couldn’t tell what country he was with but the I think that flag on his shirt was for one of those cold countries. What did it even matter? If I was lucky, I was going to get pillaged by a Viking tonight. It was gonna be my own little Viking invasion.

“Hey, sailor.” Oh my god. I can’t believe I just said that. How stupid did that sound? Like I couldn’t have said anything else, anything else at all? Some more men had come up to talk to me. One had even tried to cut in front of the blond god. And I say try because the blond god stuck his left arm out and pushed him aside. That was the hottest fucking thing I had seen. Shivers crawled up and down my spine. I could not wait for this man to get his hands on me.

“Hey, I’m looking for a port to dock in.” He smirked at me with an amused look. His accent was so hot I damn near came in my pants. I’m pretty sure the astronauts in space could see my dick, it was so hard. I hadn’t gotten this turned on this fast since puberty. And that’s when anything set me off. Can I say that I fell in love with him a little bit right then, because he took my sailor thing and ran with it?

Always daydreaming and making up stories in her head, Bella didn’t write her first novel until 2017. Bella has a Computer Science degree, but that doesn’t hold a candle to her true love of reading. She has a cat, a corgi, hates doing cleaning, and loves playing video games. Bella loves sexy men and a happily ever after romance. Happy reading!

BLURB: Men found him attractive, interesting even. He was like a fascinating experiment gone wrong that men liked to investigate. He’d get a date – or two, if he was lucky – but it wasn’t long before Brian’s darkness showed, and the men were running from him.

Brian King was honorably discharged from the United States Navy five years ago. He’d left with the highest honors a man can receive in his country, but he’d paid the ultimate price to earn them. He was considered one of the best; an Intelligence Officer in a Joint Special Operations Delta team that’d been a twelve-man wrecking crew. They’d thought they were invincible… until they weren’t. Brian was the only member that survived the ambush. He survived ten months of pain, of torture, only to emerge on the other side a warrior. A POW survivor. He’d returned home with all his limbs, his right mind, and with his only brother Ford, at his side. But, one thing had been lost, maybe for good… his voice.

Now, being a bounty hunter is Brian’s only means to satisfy his need to calculate, track, and capture. His only outlet to the stress caused by his silence. He was good at what he did. But, all work and no play for a forty-four year old man was taking its toll. Brian wasn’t a faulty experiment. He missed companionship, he missed communicating. So, when he met Sway Hamilton – in the most unconventional means – he’d been surprised at his special way of understanding Brian’s every look… and touch.

Sway grew up in the rough part of ATL, trailing behind his twin brother Stanton and his best friend, Dana. He and his brother had a bond only twins could understand. So when Stanton’s life was taken during their sophomore year in college, Sway didn’t think he’d ever recover. He finally finished school, got his masters in nursing, worked hard, and focused on taking care of his mother. However, Sway knew there was more to life than heartache, and caring for others. There had to be. But he didn’t know what any of those things were until he met a dark hunter that blew his mind… and the intense man had never uttered a single word.

Brian and Sway can feel the powerful connection between them. It was there from the start—but both of them have battled with loss and anguish for so long, neither understand that love can ease all of it. Do they have the courage to battle through it together? Sway has to learn to trust in love, and Brian has to believe that Sway will always understand him even if he never speaks again.

Sway held him tight around his neck, “I don’t need you to talk, Brian. I can hear you just fine,” Sway whispered softly, kissing his throat.

This novel is a part of a series but can be read as a standalone. No cliffhangers.

Trigger Warning: This story contains acts of bond recovery agent violence. Mention of war zones and descriptions of war prisoners. This story DOES NOT contain overly-described acts of torture.

REVIEW: As usual, this author has truly outdone herself. Just when I think her books couldn’t get any more exciting, any more perfect, she surpasses everything and brings another amazing creation. So, this is the fourth book in this wonderful series and gives us Brian and Sway’s story. Brian is a big, sweet, tough teddy bear of a man. A gentle giant to Sway, his friends and family but to everyone else, a tough ex-Navy SEAL and highly skilled bounty hunter who can kick some serious ass. He was captured and tortured by terrorists which rendered Brian unable to speak. Brian’s PTSD is heartbreaking to read and the author was able to capture the daily struggles service-members face when they return home. She did it with respect and sensitivity. She didn’t embellish, romanticize or glorify it. Also, I liked how she didn’t give super descriptive details of the torture Brian endured while captured.

Sway is a hard working and dedicated nurse practitioner. He works hard to provide a good life for him and his mother. Sway is a good man, he takes care of everyone but himself.

These two men absolutely belong together. The author did an exceptional job of writing their emotional responses to each other. You felt that simmering, intense…thing between them; it leapt out at your from the pages. You not only read them falling for each other, you also feel their emotions; the sadness, the loneliness, the joy, the pain. Every emotion in this book was intense and it was written just so. To write a character’s emotions to the point where it’s felt by the reader, I feel is not something that’s easily accomplished yet this author does it all the time, in all of her creations. That’s how you know that you have an author who masters their craft. It’s not an easy feat to accomplish yet she does it with ease. It was absolutely amazing.

I also love how her characters are more mature in age. These are gentlemen of a particular age and as a reader of the same age, I can really dig it. She shows that these men are still strong, sexy, and virile. They’re fabulous in their 40s and I am here for all of it!

This book, like all of her work is simply amazing. This author is truly a master of her craft. Her writing style, the way she uses her words is like an elegant work of art. She’s an artist who comes up with these beautiful creations which are her books.

BLURB: Tai wishes Master Lucas wasn’t such an adamant Top, but he’s also crushing on the sweetly submissive Elliot. Could he have it both ways?

Tai has hit a wall in life. From all outward appearances, he’s the guy who has everything—looks, personality and money. But the modeling gigs are drying up and he still hasn’t found that special someone to call his own. The part-time work at Kiss of Leather is quickly becoming full-time to prevent the drain on his dream-business savings.

Elliot fell for the stunning Tai from almost the moment he met him. If he wasn’t so self-conscious about the weight he’s recently put on, maybe he could work up the nerve to make a move. However, not only is he a virgin who’s never done a scene before working in a BDSM club, but he’s also sure that Tai has a thing for Master Lucas. There’s no way he could ever compete with the handsome silver fox.

When Master Lucas confesses to Tai that he doesn’t only see him as a hookup and offers him a contract, there are a ton of considerations. They both realize that serious compromises would have to be made for them to have a relationship. But what if they found a third, a sub who could bottom for Tai and also do TPE with Master Lucas? Once the idea takes hold, Tai knows just the perfect boy for them both. Even better? He’s right there at Kiss of Leather, and Tai can’t wait for Elliot to turn them all into a throuple.

Reader Advisory: This book contains a scene of assault, and attempted sexual assault.

REVIEW: This book along with this series is so good with each book getting better and better. Book # 8 gave us a little something more in terms of the ménage but with Tai’s character, it made total sense to me.

Tai is not a total Sub and I see how that would’ve strained the relationship between him and Lucas who is a total Dom. Lucas was aware of this and I think that was one of the factors of him being agreeable to bringing Elliot into the fold. Elliot is a complete sub and is the perfect man for them. I truly feel that he’s the important link that holds them all together.

These characters, as the case with all of her characters are so well and clearly written; the contrasts between them is always a pleasure to read. I love that she makes the reader see more to Tai’s character than just him being a brainless, rich, pretty boy, part time submissive. Elliot is sweet and shy but he has a strength to him that he doesn’t realize he has and Lucas is a Dom but he’s not hard or heartless or perfect. That’s also what’s great about this series: she doesn’t make her Doms these hard, heartless men who never makes mistakes. These men are Doms but they are loving and caring and far from perfect. What I also love about this author is that her characters are from all racial, ethnic, orientation, socioeconomic groups. Her books are wonderfully diverse and she writes them all respectfully pretty much dispelling the myth that it’s impossible to write diverse characters without stereotyping them.

Now, as with all of her characters, these men are themselves flawed and you see them deal with issues of physical, mental and sexual abuse. I like how she writes how these men get through those issues with help and with men who help them heal. And what I love about all of her books in general, this series, this books in particular, she doesn’t make these men superheroes, meaning, she doesn’t have the Doms heal their subs in one book. It’s an ongoing and long process that she shows spanning several books with the timeline being years.

BLURB: When private investigator, Shane Stephens, is hired by the mayor of Cincinnati to track down the hacker who has been threatening him, Shane is sure this is the opportunity to launch the Merleau Detection Agency into the big time. He even convinces Rowe Ward of Ward Security to loan him one of his best IT specialists, Quinn Lake.

Shane, a man who prefers casual intimacy, is surprised by his attraction to the moody computer geek, but when Quinn suggests they have fun for the month he’s on loan, Shane happily agrees. Both men are expecting nothing more than a good time.

But the investigation takes an unexpected turn and they quickly discover they are facing more than a hacker out to ruin the mayor’s re-election chances. And as they spend more time together, they realize their relationship may be a lot more than just a good time.

With only weeks until the election, Shane and Quinn race to gather the proof they need while dodging bullets and possibly…falling in love.

REVIEW: This is the second book in the fantastic spinoff from the Unbreakable Bonds series. A friend of my turned me on to these authors and I am so very glad that she did. These two authors are a dynamic duo; their characters, settings, storyline and plots are absolutely fabulous.

I became obsessed with their books starting with the Unbreakable Bonds series, the series that started it all. I was literally addicted with the first page of Shiver to the first page in this current book.

As with the rest of their series, their writing style is perfectly matched. There have been times when I’ve read books written by two authors and it didn’t seem like a cohesive story. This is not the case with these authors. Their writing style and transition from one book to the other is seamless, almost as if it’s written by one person instead of two. The editing is spot on perfect, no plot holes, gaps in storyline, nothing. It’s wonderful.

Quinn and Shane are great together. The chemistry these two men have leaps off the page. The recipe of mystery action and suspense, infused with just a touch of humor grabs and keeps your attention. You lose yourself into this world and the lives of these characters from the very first word to the very last. I absolutely adore these authors’ work and I highly recommend this series. I am anxiously awaiting the next book.

BLURB: Hilo Adachi learned one very important lesson from his father—unconditional love is a sham that always comes with strings attached.

Broken and alone, he works as a bike messenger while moonlighting as a graphic designer. When he meets Matthew Ellington, the last thing Hilo is looking for is love, but how can he deny the fact that one look from Matthew’s beautiful, brown eyes leaves him yearning for things he has no right to? How could he possibly imagine he deserves a man like Matthew?

Matthew Ellington has it all – a successful clothing line, a loving family and money. But he’s missing love and while he isn’t actively looking, he isn’t going to ignore it should love come along. The moment he lays eyes on Hilo, he knows he wants him. But Hilo’s demons keep getting in the way.

Matthew is a fighter, and Hilo’s demons have met their match.

REVIEW: I really enjoyed this book. These characters were absolutely wonderful together. Hilo especially tugged at my heartstrings. If anyone deserved a HEA ending, it was him. Like most people, Hilo had issues that stemmed from his family life and from his past that negatively impacts his life and affects pretty much every decision he makes. He’s a man that’s pretty much given up on thinking he deserves to be loved.

Matthew was the perfect match for him. Matt’s light and love was the perfect balm that soothed Hilo’s bruised heart and goes quite a long way in helping him heal which gives Hilo the courage he needs to open himself to give and receive love. And Matthew! He pursues Hilo, but he wasn’t forceful, arrogant or obnoxious in his pursuit. He was firm in the sense that he knew that Hilo was the right man for him but he was patient because he understood that Hilo had issues stemming from his family.

I really enjoy this author’s work. Her stories always flows so well. There’s no unnecessary drama; the author doesn’t feel the need to fill the book with angst. There’s conflict, sure, but they’re resolved smoothly. There was the perfect balance of sex and romance. There wasn’t so much sex that it turns you off but just enough to keep it sexy. I also love that her books feature ethnically/racially diverse characters without the stereotypes. I don’t have to worry about getting ticked off while reading her work because she always seems to get it right. And the cover was beautifully done. The soft colors were such a great choice.

I really liked this story. My only complaint was that I didn’t want it to end. This was definitely a lovely read.

When private investigator, Shane Stephens, is hired by the mayor of Cincinnati to track down the hacker who has been threatening him, Shane is sure this is the opportunity to launch the Merleau Detection Agency into the big time. He even convinces Rowe Ward of Ward Security to loan him one of his best IT specialists, Quinn Lake.

Shane, a man who prefers casual intimacy, is surprised by his attraction to the moody computer geek, but when Quinn suggests they have fun for the month he’s on loan, Shane happily agrees. Both men are expecting nothing more than a good time.

But the investigation takes an unexpected turn and they quickly discover they are facing more than a hacker out to ruin the mayor’s re-election chances. And as they spend more time together, they realize their relationship may be a lot more than just a good time.

With only weeks until the election, Shane and Quinn race to gather the proof they need while dodging bullets and possibly…falling in love.

Excerpt

After one quick knock on Rowe’s door, he stepped inside without waiting for him to call since he was already expected. But he stopped short when he saw the tall man standing next to Rowe’s desk, his hands on his slender hips as he grinned down at Rowe. Quinn couldn’t stop his eyes from quickly sweeping over his broad shoulders and chest that tapered into a narrow waist. His eyes snapped back up to find a pair of brown eyes that twinkled as they finished checking him out as well.

“Sorry,” Quinn mumbled, instantly taking a step backward. “I can come back.” Rowe rarely saw clients. He had customer representatives that handled talking to the clients. Of course, with Rowe’s lack of a filter, it was better if he didn’t talk to the new clients directly.

“No, come in, Quinn,” Rowe said sharply. He stood behind his desk, drawing Quinn’s gaze to his shorter but broader frame. His dark red hair stood up slightly as if he’d been running his fingers through it. Quinn never took that as a particularly good sign.

With a quick jerk of his head, Quinn stepped in and shut the door behind him. The other man was smiling at him, that assessing look still in his eyes, and Quinn didn’t want to think about the fact that he was dying to take another longer look at him, but not with the freaking boss in the room.

Shane extended his hand to Quinn and Quinn clenched his teeth, trying to hide his discomfort at taking Shane’s hand. His own palms were sweaty, making the momentary contact awkward. Why the fuck was he always so damn awkward around hot guys?

“Rowe tells me you’re the best,” Shane said, releasing his hand.

Quinn couldn’t help the skeptical look he shot at Rowe, who only shrugged as he sat down again. “Well, I said you <em>and</em> Gidget are the best.”

“Is this about a job?”

“Sit, Quinn.” Rowe absently waved toward the two chairs in front of his desk. He shuffled some papers around without seeming to actually look at them, placing them in piles at the edge of his desk.

Shooting one last uncertain look at Shane, Quinn moved to the farthest chair and sat, his tablet clenched in both hands. His mind raced as he tried to figure out why he’d been called into this meeting. Clients didn’t meet with Rowe, and Quinn didn’t meet with clients unless they’d already been assigned a bodyguard. And while they’d worked with some private investigators in the past, Rowe wasn’t usually involved. He had a company to run.

“Shane recently acquired a client who is the victim of a hacker,” Rowe started.

Quinn looked up at Shane, who was still standing beside Rowe’s desk, his mind finally turning away from too many questions to a problem he could understand. “Identity theft? Bank accounts drained?”

“No, not yet.” Shane shook his head, some of his dark curly hair falling forward against his temple. “At least, not that we’ve uncovered.”

“Then how do you know this client was hacked?”

“There are other signs…but I can’t go into it.”

Quinn frowned for a second. That certainly wasn’t going to make his job easier. “Well, do you just need improved protection? Alerts on accounts? We’ve got a comprehensive list of things we can do to help shore up the client’s account protection and privacy.”

“Shane isn’t looking for protection from the hacker for the client.” Rowe paused until Quinn looked back at him. “His client has hired him to track down the identity of the hacker.”

“Whoa…” Quinn said on an exhale, sitting back in his chair. That…that was not an easy task. Most hackers were pretty damn good at not being found. You had to be if you wanted to survive as one. If you sucked, you were usually snagged by the FBI pretty damn fast. Quinn would know. He’d started hacking at a young age—not stealing other people’s money but just breaking through security systems because he could. It took the feds a solid five years to catch him. But his boss knew all this. Rowe knew everything about the people working for him.

“We’re not equipped to handle this level of…” Shane frowned at Rowe’s computer as if he blamed it for his problems. “Well, we’re not staffed yet to handle computer things like this. I can do some of the forensic research in accounting matters, but I need a computer genius like you.”

“That’s why I agreed to loan you to Shane and his business partner, Ethan, for one month,” Rowe announced.

Quinn was out of his seat in a shot, hovering over the edge of the desk as he looked down at his boss. Pain shot through his chest, and he was suddenly having trouble catching his breath. Panic clouded all of his thoughts. He loved working for Ward Security. He’d been there for just less than two years, and he’d never found another place where he’d felt like he fit so damn perfectly. This was home. These people he worked with, they were his friends. He didn’t have to hide or pretend or feel uncomfortable.

And Rowe…Rowe had always been amazing. Sure, he could be cranky and a little crazy. He was always loud and tended to speak before thinking. But Quinn always knew exactly where he stood with Rowe. He always felt like Rowe had his back.

But this…

“Are you getting rid of me?”

“What?” Rowe snapped. “Where the fuck did you get that idea?”

“You’re hiring another IT person. I saw the listing. And this? Putting me ‘on loan’?”

Rowe groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. With a heavy sigh, he pointed back at the chair Quinn had just vacated. “Sit.” Grudgingly, Quinn followed direction while Rowe looked over at Shane. “Can you give us a minute?”

Devon Murphy has never believed that there were fairies at the bottom of the garden, but when he’s in an accident on his way to his grandmother’s house and comes face to face with the biggest, baddest wolf he’s ever seen, he’s forced to reconsider.

When his grandmother asks him to look into a string of suspicious accidents, he finds a much bigger mystery to unravel. From his childhood best friend to the too-attractive Deputy Wade Hunter, everyone in Rowan Harbor seems to have something to hide. Devon has to get to the bottom of it all before the accidents turn deadly.

This novel is intended for adult audiences, and contains swearing and sex scenes.

It is the first of nine books in The Rowan Harbor Cycle, not a standalone. Devon and Wade will return in book four to continue their story, so this book contains a HFN, not their HEA.

Kimi’s thoughts:

I’ve not come across this author before and when I first read the blurb, I thought it sounded refreshing. I first took a peek at the author’s Amazon page and discovered he has another series already out but it isn’t paranormal, which I’m currently in the mood for, so passed them by (for now).

I really like the natural way Sam’s prose flows across the page. Nothing seems forced and I slid right into the world Rowan Harbor from the very first paragraph. Devon, Jesse, and the rest of his friends and fellow townsfolk are all very likable people. They are all familiar in a way that should we ourselves somehow find ourselves moving into this small town, we’d not be suspicious of anything. There are little quirks noticed by recent arrivals, such as how reverent everyone seems of the town council, and the way they view anyone whose family is less than a hundred years resident there as an outsider. There’s very good reason for that, as Devon finds out.

If you love stories of fated mates and paranormal creatures, but wish for variety outside the usual tropes, this is definitely a must-read. It’s fun and there’s a mystery to be solved, well two actually as it happens. The HFN ending is definitely happy with the knowledge that we get to ride along for their ‘ever after’ and that more couples are soon to find their One as well, without it being too terrible of a cliffhanger. One mystery is resolved, but the second promises to be an overarching plot point I look forward to following as it is resolved. I am very much eagerly anticipating book two.

Hello! Thanks to Kimi for hosting us today at Kimi-chan Experience for the last day of The Hockey Player’s Heart blog tour. It’s been great talking about our first collaboration on a novel over the past few days. The story revolves around New York Rangers hockey player Caleb Carter who returns home to Foster Grove, New York (a fictional town that we made up). While he’s recuperating from an injury, he reconnects with Aaron Price who also recently returned to town and is teaching at the local elementary school.
Below we’ve got an exclusive excerpt for you. In it, Caleb is visiting Aaron’s classroom to see Aaron on the job with his students. It’s one of the cute moments in the story that involves kids (because cute kids are always great in romances!).
Make sure you check out the Rafflecopter we’ve included as well. We’re giving away an e-book copy at each tour stop plus there’s a grand prize of an autographed paperback for a US winner or a $10 Amazon e-gift card for an international winner. If you’ve missed any of the stops, you’ve still got a few days to go check them out..
We hope you enjoy The Hockey Player’s Heart and would love to hear what you think. If you read it, please consider leaving a review on your favorite site or dropping us a comment on one of our websites.

Excerpt
“So, here’s something I bet you guys don’t know. Mr. Carter was one of the first people I ever taught, back when I was seventeen.”

Caleb cringed as Aaron brought up the tutoring. It wasn’t Caleb’s favorite topic, but it had been necessary at the time.

“He was having a hard time with geometry, and I offered to help him so he could stay on the high school hockey team.”

Caleb piped up from the back. “You could say that’s he’s partially responsible for getting me into the pros.” He played along since he was sure Aaron was going to make this a teachable moment.

“You see, geometry is something that Mr. Carter still uses every day.”

A girl in the front row raised her hand and waited for Aaron to call on her before speaking. “Really? I’ve heard my mom and dad say they never use what they learned in school, especially if they’re trying to help my older sister with her homework.”

“I used geometry even before I knew what it was, and the fact that I know it as well as I do makes me a better hockey player.”

The class turned to hear Caleb speak.

“Most geometry is all about angles, and angles are crucial to the game. How many of you watch or play regularly?”

Six hands shot up.

“Okay. How many of you have heard of a goalie coming out of his net to decrease the angle?”

Only two hands now.

“Do you know why?” Aaron was already drawing what Caleb described on the white board.

No hands this time.

“It’s because moving out in that way makes the net appear smaller to the player, thus reducing the chances of getting a shot by the goalie while also giving the goalie more room to block the shot.”

Caleb got a tingly feeling at how well Aaron diagrammed the scenario. Aaron added additional lines to the board and drew out even more lines to show various angle scenarios that went beyond what Caleb had considered. The Rangers’ goalies would’ve been impressed.

“Of course, as a forward comes in for a shot, you have to try to force the goalie to reposition.” Aaron wrapped up his description, seemingly leaving the kids stunned.
“Now where are the players?” Caleb asked.

Four hands went up.

“How often do you use geometry in a game?”

He got four shrugs in response.

“You use it all the time.” Caleb walked to the front of the classroom to draw on the board, but he changed his mind before he picked up the marker. He looked to Aaron. “Can we go outside?”

Aaron looked surprised, and Caleb hoped he hadn’t put him in a bad position. “What’d you have in mind?”

Caleb stepped close and whispered in Aaron’s ear—the one angled to the whiteboard to help ensure the class couldn’t hear.

Blurb:
Hometown hero. Hockey superstar. Perfect boyfriend?

When hockey star Caleb Carter returns to his hometown to recover from an injury, the only thing he’s interested in is a little R & R. He never expects to run into his onetime crush at a grade school fund-raiser . Seeing Aaron Price hits him hard, like being checked into the boards. The attraction is still there, even after all these years, and Caleb decides to make a play for the schoolteacher. You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take, right?

Aaron has been burned by love before and can’t imagine what a celebrity like Caleb could possibly see in a guy like him. Their differences are just too great. But as Aaron spends more time with Caleb, he begins to wonder if he might have what it takes to win the hockey player’s heart.

Bio:
Jeff Adams and Will Knauss are husbands, authors, and podcasters based in Northern California. They write gay romances, sometimes together and other times separately. Jeff also writes young adult LGBT fiction. Together they host Jeff & Will’s Big Gay Fiction Podcast, a weekly show devoted to gay romance literature and the pop culture they love.